Dubai on March 1 (BUS): Top seed Novak Djokovic advanced to the quarter-finals at the Dubai Championships by defeating Talon Griksspor 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday.
Djokovic extended his winning streak to 19 matches in neat fashion a day after he was pushed into a third set tiebreaker by 130th-ranked Tomasz Machak, reports the Associated Press.
The 35-year-old Serbian has broken 39th seed Griksspor four times to remain unbeaten this season. It was Djokovic’s second match since his 10 winsy Australian Open title.
The five-times Dubai champion had taken a few weeks off after overcoming a hamstring problem in Australia to win his record-equalling 22nd singles title.
Djokovic will next meet Hubert Hurkacz or qualifier Pavel Kotov for a place in the semi-finals.
Also on Wednesday, defending champion Andrei Rublev claimed a fair victory 1-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(3) over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The Russian saved five match points in the second set tie-break. They won seven straight points after going down 1-6.
Davidovich Fokina trailed 6-1 in the third set tiebreaker and saved two points before Rublev finished him off at the third attempt. Rublev will play second seed Butik van de Zandscholpe in the quarter-finals.
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